Well Robert- tell me how you really feel about this. Was it really necessary to use the word dumb?? However colorful, I do appreciate the feedback.

You are correct- first come, first serve doesn't help me fill the class with the people who need it most- but it does fill the class in a fair, unbiased way, which was the objective handed down to me last year.

Since you clearly do not agree with "first come, first serve," I want to clarify that the HR Director is very clear that she doesn't want me dictating and selecting who can attend the class. It has to appear fair at all times and anyone should be allowed to take the class if they like. This is why I currently do first come, first serve.

Unfortuantely, a lot of supervisors say "Take 2 classes" as part of their performance review goals, but don't specify which ones they need to take.

What I may be able to incorporate is having the manager answer, on a scale of 1-5, the degree of importance...giving first priority to the "Very important" group, regardless of who is in it. This will still maintain the appearance of fairness and I will not have personally hand-picked the class, per my Director's request.

quote:

What I may be able to incorporate is having the manager answer, on a scale of 1-5,

yes - that could be one way to assess business need (something I said in my first post was that you can use business need as a way to prioritize who gets into a class)

As long as you're at it, I would also ask the employee to describe how/why the class relates to his/her development goals.

good luck to you!

quote:

Unfortuantely, a lot of supervisors say "Take 2 classes" as part of their performance review goals, but don't specify which ones they need to take.

Yes, that sort of thing has certainly been what I have seen. Some managers just have a list of course offerings and tell employees to take anything that they want on that list. To me, this minimizes training. It implies that training is nothing more than one of the perks of the job - an entertainment, or a chance to get away from the job for awhile - and maybe even learn something interesting. Rarely does it seem to mean much more. At least that's been my experience.

quote:

Since you clearly do not agree with "first come, first serve," I want to clarify that the HR Director is very clear that she doesn't want me dictating and selecting who can attend the class. It has to appear fair at all times and anyone should be allowed to take the class if they like. This is why I currently do first come, first serve.

Ok. If your first priority is to appear fair, and the only definition of fair that you believe would satisfy is first come first served, then I think that's the appropriate solution.

So, your problem, if I understand it, is not that training resources may not be used effecitvely, but that the way you are already commited (first come first served)to has the side effect of allowing early applicants to take "too many courses"

So cap the number of courses per person per time period. Is that practical?

I thought you were asking for alternatives to first come first served.

I wouldn't allocate scarce resources on the basis of who was fastest in getting applications in, but I can also imagine a workplace where training is a perk, not a strategic tool, and therefore the fairness issue becomes larger. Perhaps that's the situation you are in?

The Conflict Resource Center
http://conflict911.com

quote:

Originally posted by Robert Bacal:
Ok. If your first priority is to appear fair, and the only definition of fair that you believe would satisfy is first come first served, then I think that's the appropriate solution.

So, your problem, if I understand it, is not that training resources may not be used effecitvely, but that the way you are already commited (first come first served)to has the side effect of allowing early applicants to take "too many courses"

So cap the number of courses per person per time period. Is that practical?

I thought you were asking for alternatives to first come first served.

I wouldn't allocate scarce resources on the basis of who was fastest in getting applications in, but I can also imagine a workplace where training is a perk, not a strategic tool, and therefore the fairness issue becomes larger. Perhaps that's the situation you are in?

The Conflict Resource Center
http://conflict911.com

Correct- all of those things come into play...and as much as I wish that training was more strategic, we are not there yet- we certainly aren't worthy of any "Best" awards this year. lol

Thanks everyone for the collaboration and suggestions. I will put some more thought into this, but think I will end up capping the amount of classes each person can take and also getting feedback from each manager as to the degree of importance the class holds for the person. See you around the boards!